Enrico Caruso (25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic tenor, who sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles that ranged from the lyric to the dramatic. Generally recognized as the preeminent tenor of the 20th century and the first international recording star, Caruso made around 250 commercially released recordings between 1902 and 1920.
Early life
Caruso was born in Naples in the via Santi Giovanni e Paolo n° 7 on 25 February 1873. He was baptised the next day in the adjacent Church of San Giovanni e Paolo. His parents originally came from Piedimonte d'Alife (now called Piedimonte Matese), in the Province of Caserta in Campania, Southern Italy.
Caruso was the third of seven children and one of only three to survive infancy. For decades, it was widely reported that Caruso's parents had 21 children, 18 of whom died in infancy. However, based on genealogical research (amongst others conducted by Caruso family friend Guido D'Onofrio), biographers Pierre Key, Francis Robinson, and Enrico Caruso Jr. and Andrew Farkas, have proven this to be untrue. Caruso himself and his brother Giovanni may have been the source of the exaggerated number. Caruso's widow Dorothy also included the story in her best-selling memoir about her husband, published in 1945. She allegedly quoted the tenor, speaking of his mother, Anna Caruso (née Baldini): "She had twenty-one children. Twenty boys and one girl – too many. I am number nineteen boy."
